Dredging-machine



(No Modem 5 sheets-sheet 1.

' J'. EDWARDS.

DREDGING MAGHINB.

I," Patented Mar. l2, 1889.

ITA/8858.' m l @www (No Model.) A 5 Shi-zets-Sheetf 2.

J. EDWARDS.

BREWING. MAGHINE. No. 399,251. Patented Mar. 889.

N. PETERE. Pnotoummmpmr. wmingm. D. C.

5 Sheets-,Sheet 3.'

(No Model.)

J. EDWARDS.

DREDGING MACHINE.

Patented Mar, 12, 1889.

QWl1110596756:

ATTORNEY,

N. PETERS. Phmvhmognpher. Wzxhinsmn 0.12.

5 sheets-sheet 4.

' (No Model.)

J. EDWARDS.

DREDGING MACHINE.

No.. 399,251. Patented Mar. 12, 1889.

N. Finns. Pnnmumgmpm. wuhmmmo. c.

5 sheets-sheen 5.` A

(No Model.)

J. EDWARDS.

DREDGING MAGHINE.

Patented Mar. 12, 1889.

l Fly:

M E 8 8 M U W Nv PETERS. Phew-inhumana Muhingmn f) C,

UNITED STATES PATENT @Errea JOSEPH EDVARDS, OF BROOKLYN, lillY YORK.

DREDGiNG-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 399,251, dated March 12, 1889.

l Application led December 21, 1888. Serial No, 294,339 (No model.)

To @ZZ whom, E may concern:

Be it known that l, JOSEPH EDWARDS, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State oi New York, have invented new and useful lmfn'orenients in Dredging}laehines, ot' which the following' is a specification.

)ly invention relates to improvements in that class of dredging-machines which are operated hy rotary pumps and mounted on steam-propelled boats, and especially to sueh machines as are employed on sea-going steamships for dredging in rough and deep waters. ln this class ot' dredging and dredging machinery great diiiieulties are encountered, especially in deep and rough waters, (which cause rolling and pitching oi' the resseh) for inst-anodin controlling and protecting rarious parts ot the neeessar)` machinery, espe i figure; Fig. l2,:1,erosssection on the line.

oially the suc-lion -pipes through which the dredged materials are drawn -by the pumps, and the drags atthe lower ends oi' the said pipes, which catch hol d of and receive the said materials, and the union between the said suetion-pipes and ship, all of which said aud other difficulties l olwiate and overcome hy the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, consisting of tive sheets, in which-- Figure l represents aside viewol' the stern half of a dredging-steamer containing within it the necessary earryingbins, engines, boilers,

and pumps, and showing on the outside one a steamer, in and on which is mounted the of the suction-pipes and its drag and its relation to the ship, through the side oi' which it passes to connectwith its pump, and the means of suspending, holding, lowering, hoisting, and otherwise controlling the said pipe and drag; Fig. 2, a transverse vertical seetion of the ship ou the line c ot` Fig. l, showing tion-pipe and its connection with the pump n and the side of the ship, showing the means of providing a rotarymotion to this portion ot the suetion-pipe in the pump and in the side oi the ship and yet have in hoth ol. said connections a perfectly air-tight Yjoint; ll, a partial longitudinal sect ion oi the ln'irizontai portion ot' the suction-pipe on the line ,e oi. Fig. lo, shouing same parts as last-described ot"Y Fig. il); Fig. i3, an enlarged sectional riew ot' the packed` joint between the snetitui-pipe.,V

and the pump.

Simiiarlet-ters reii'oriosilnilarparlsthroughout the several views.

The ship is provided with a suction-pipe on hoth sides, each haring its own pump, so that i whatever is provided on one side of the Vessol that relates to the work of dredging is also provided on the other; hut in describing the several parts l will, for convenience, use the singular number.

Referring to Fig. l, A A is the stern part of dredging apparatus, including loins in which 4to deposit the dredged materials; li i3, the

one of the suction-pipes and its drag and the eiurance ot' the said pipe into the ship, and one oi' the outputs on the vessel to which the said pipe is iu part suspended; Fi 3, a longitudinal View of the flexible portion of one of the suction-pipes, shown partly in section, and representing protection-chains to longitndinallyv take the tensile strain oit' of this flexible portion oi"l the said pipe; Fig. 4, a transverse section on the line 1/ q1/ of Fig. Fig. a transverse section on the line 'y' y ot' Fig. 3; Fig. U, a longitudinal section on the line y Iy of Fig. 8; Fig. 7, a longitudinal l l l suction-pipe, which at its upper end is bent in the form oli' an elbow and. passes through the side of the ship perpendicularly thereto and at right aiigles to itself. A" A is a project-ing guard-rail oi the ship. This suctionpipe is shown by the plain lines in the wor e ing position and h3' the dotted lines'in its position when the ship going to and from the dumping-grounds.

C is the drag, attached io the lower end of the suction-pipe lor means of a halland-socket joint, C', which said joint and drag will hereinafter he further explained.

1) D is the bed of the hay or river, upon which the drag rests and is at work about thirty-six feet below the surface ot the water llY W. 'loward the upper end of the suction- IOO SOl

pipe B B is a Iiexible section, B B, about twelve feet long, the construction and purposes of which will hereinafter be described.

E and E are frames built up from the deck 5 of the vessel, transversely across which` rest the outputs @and e', to which are attached the sheaxf'e-bloeks a. a and a a', having rove therein the wire rope I) and h', by means of .which the suction-pipe B B 1s hoisted and lowered and properly adjusted to its work. It will be observed that these sheave-blocks a a and a c are not attached directly to the suction-pipe, but that between them and the said pipe there is an intervening system of chains, 2 2 and 3 and 4@ l and 5, which are so arranged as in the one case to accommodate themselves to the support and protection of the fiexible portion B of the suction-pipe, and in the other case to control the action of the drag C and accommodate themselves to the motion thereof in the vball-and-socket joint C. The chain 2 2, which attaches to the lower portion of the suction-pipe, is fastened at one end to the clamp-band c', which is fastened around the suction-pipev at a considerable distance from its end and passes up over a sheave in the traveling sheave-block c, and thence down to the side centers, c, of' the ball-and-socket joint C', this end of the o chain being bifureatefl to stride the said joint lpipe is raised bythe wire rope this adjustable suspending-chain 2 2 will accommodate itself 5 to the traveling1 sheave-block c in such a manner that an equal strain thereof will be applied to both ends of its attachment to the suction-pipe irrespective of the angle it (the said pipe) takes with the horizontal plane. The chain 3, as best seen vin Fig. 2, is double, and at it-s upper end connects with the adj ustable chain 2 2 at the point of its bifurcation. The lower end of this chain (or chains) connects to the top of the outer end of the drag, as best shown at c cl in Fig. 2. It will be seen that by means of the balland-socket joint C and the suspending-chain 3 the outer end of the drag C can rise and fall to more or less adjust itself to its work, while the suction-pipe itself remains in a fixed position.

By means of the ball-and-socket join-t and the above-described means of suspending the outer end of the drag I attain two other adjustable movements of the said drag besides the vertical adjustment, one a rotary and the other a lateral movement of its outer end, which allows it (the said drag) to accommodate itself in three different directions, irrespective of the fixed position of the suctionpipe, by which said three independent motions of` the drag its mouth is not only always kept close to and adjusted to the materials to be dredged, but by these said independent movements the drag is kept constantly and closely tted to its work irrespective of ordinary rolling of the ship or any very exact pitch or position of the suction-pipe.

The chains 4 et and 5 are arranged in a peculiar manner for the purpose of safely holding and protecting the iiexible or rubber p0rtion B n of the suction-pipe B B. (Best seen in Fig. l.) The upper end of the adjustable chain i -l is attached to the suction -pipe above and next to the flexible part of the same b v means of a clamp-band, c, and the lower end by a similar band, c, below and next to the lower end of the flexible portion of the suction-pipe. This adjustable chain in its course passes over a sheave in the traveling sheaveblock c2, so that whatever strain is put upon this chain it-is equally applied to both ends of the same. The chain 5 is attached at one end to the sheave-block c?, and at the other end to a band (the subject of Fig. 5) clamped around. the Aiiexible portion of the suctionpipe at an equal distance from either end thereof. 'l his chain 5 isrof. such lei'igth relative to the length of the chain Je @L as to give the flexible rubber pipe a gentle bend. By this relative length and arrangement of these two chains (l ai and 5) the rubber portion, B-

B, of the suction-pipe retains the same gcntle bend or curve irrespective of the angle formed bythe latter with the horizontal plane.

Besides the chains above described for securing the suction-pipe B B, there are two others, G G and 7 7, which I will term staying or dravf'ing7 chains. The cha-in (i (3 is attached at the lower end to the clamp-band i c and at the other end to a set of sheaveblocks and wire rope F, which in turn are attached to the guard-rail A. A of the ship. The other chain, 7 7, is fastened at the lower end to the side centers of the socket of the balland-socket joint C (this end of this chain bcing bifurcated) and the upper en d to the said u a rd-rail with interven ing sheave-blocks and wire rope F. 'lhis latter chain 7 7 lies nearly in a line with the suction-pipe and the other, G G, somewhat in the same direction, the purpose of these two chains being to hold the suction -pipe in the longitudinal direction with lOO IIO

itself to relieve the longitudinal strain thcreon, as also to relieve the strain on its .elbow and its union with the ship.

To vfurther support the elbow of the suc tion-pipe and so relieve the lateral strain thereof on its bearing in the side of t-he ship and its attachment to its pump, and thereby to cause the same to more easily rotate, I provide a lug, I, Figs. l0 and 1l, on the rotating center of the said elbow, and vertically over it a goose-neck, I', secured to the said bearings, one of which is shown transversely by Fig. l2. Between the said lug and the outer end of the said goose-neck is provided a turnbuckle, fi, to vertically adjust the support of the former -by the latter, and to hold the said elbow from horizontal back-strain I provide a l1olding-cl1ain,'f^, in front of the elbow. To

IIS

Afastened at either end to the corresponding above the outputs e and e. lhose springs are placed under the heads of the rods that connect the hoisting and lowering sheaveblocks a a and a d', for the purpose of preventing the liability of breaking the wire ropes L Z1 and b b' when hoisting the suctionpipe B l5 to its horizontal position. (Shown by the dotted lines of the same.)

Fig. 3 illustrates the structure and longitudinal support of the flexible rubber portion of the suctioi'i-pipe, which consists of a very heavy transvcrsely-corrugated rubber pipe about twelve feet long and oi.' the same diam eter as thc iron portions of the sl'xction-pipe, to which it securely attached by means of suitable clamping-bands, G G, both ends being secured in a like manner. To relieve this rubber portion ot the suction-pipe from longitndinal strain, l employ two heavy supportingchains, H Il, extending close to and parallel with two opposite sides of the rubber pipe,

ends of the iron portions of the suction-pi pe. These two supporting-chains H H are att-ached to lugs 72y h, provided on the flange h 7l' of the connecting ends of the said pipe. The said chains are both provided with a turn-buckle, ll H', to adjust their length to that of the rubber pipe and make an nnyielding longitndinal connection between the ends of the said iron pipe to protect the said rubber pipe from tensile strain. Around the longitudinal center of this rubber pipe is provided a heavy clamp band furnished with two ears or lugs, j j, through which pass the supporting-chains l-I Il, to keep them and the rubber pipe in the same line and altord lateral support to the latter. This band is not clamped directly to the rubber pipe, but. upon 4a broader iron ringj j, underneath which is placed suitable thick yielding felt covering,j j, to protect the rubber from the iron band ,jj' and to till up the corrugations of the latter. (Best seen in Fig. of)

To further describe the details of the drag (l, as illustrated b v Figs. 7,8, and 9, its lower end is broadened out, as shown by Fig. R, and bent dinvnward and forward, so as to bring its mouth l, in vfront.

'L' is a shield to prevent the bend or hook otl the drag `from ii'astcning onto any unyieldin object when it is at work.

)l is a cast-ing to be bolted to the shieldli, to partially close or diminish the mouth L when the hardness or olher quality ot' the materials dredged ma)Y reipiire.

l is a door covering an opening, o, for admitting water to mix with the sand and mud to malte them mobile, and so prevent the drag or :m3v part oi' the suction-pipe from choking. vrlhis door is always more or less open and steadily held between the spring` Z and set-nut bol t lr, and adjusted by the lat-ter to let in more or less water, as maybe required by the quality of the work to be performed. In dredging soft. mud this door sometimes will not admit suliicient water to prevent the drag from choking, hence l provide another additional door, K', on the top of the drag, to be opened only when some part of the passage from the mouth of the drag tothe p ump becomes choked, and as soon as the obstruction is removed it is again allowed to close; hence I term this the relietdoorf which is opened at will by a cord being attached to its leverhandle Zt. Of these relieidoors l provide one or two-two being shown in Fig. S.

The ball-an d-socket join t C', which connects the drag to the suction-pipe, acts to a sufficient extent in all directions by means of the circular socket in, Fig. i), and the pin or post n` working or projecting therein.

N is an extension of the post n, provided with a. nut and washer to receive, when required by the materials dredged, either a wheel or sled, there being, of course, a corresponding post on the opposite side to prevent the drag from taking too rank a hold on its work,

Referring to Fig. 10,0 O is the bottom portion of the box in the side of the ship, in which works the suction-pipe, and the caps O' O ot the said box are shown in Fig. l2. The peculiarity of this bof; O O is that itprovides two separate bearings, P and P, loca-ted some distance apart, and in recesses p p and p p, formed on the suction-pipe by raised shoul-4 ders. The object oi' these two narrow bearings instead of one broad bearing is to avoid cramping` ol' the pipe in the said box when laterally strained by the rolling of the ship, and yet to atl'ord a Still? support of the pipe in the sido otl the ship; also, to furnish two sets of said shoulders on the pipe as an extra longitudinal support or hold on the said pipe. Another peculiarity of this box is that the cap is made in two separate paris, to turt-hcr prevent the cramping ol' the pipe in said box and to make it possible to repair or renew the said. caps without stopping' work by removing but one of the same at a time.

Figs. l1 and lil illustrate my method ol attaching the suction-pipe ll to the pump. R is a section oli' pipe, which at one end has a flange and opening that correspond with the IOO IIO

same on the pump T, and which at the other end is enlarged and within has two shoulders, r and r", and surrounds the inner end ot' the suction-pipe, the extreme end. of which enters the smaller (fliameter oi the section R, formed by the shoulder r'. Between the larger diameter ol the said section R and the said suction-pipe li isprovided the gland S, between the pump end ot which and thtl shoulder r is the packing-space, which iilled with soft stuing n'lateria-l, r r, and which is compacted around the said suction-pipe, between the end ol' the said gland an d the shoulder r, by means ol the bolts and nuts r3. (liest seen in Fig. i3.) ily this means I provide a long union between the suction-pipe and pump to further stiften and more firmly hold the horizontal portion of the said suction-pipo against the straining` action produced by the rolling of the ship in. deep and rough water.

It is evident that the suction-pipes, one on each side of the ship, which are over fifty feet long, descending from the ship atan angle of some forty-five degrees with the horizon and large and heavy, besides being filled (when at work) with dirt and water, are necessarily subject to being wrenched off and broken in various ways by the rolling and pitching of the vessel, which often occurs in what is terme( outside work, or in unprotected localities. The object of my improvements is to so attach these suction-pipes and provide such means of hoisting and lowering the same and adjusting them to their work and to have suoli complete control over them as to not only keep them steadily at work, but, as far as possible, to protect them from damage liable to occur from thel unsteady movements of the ship and other causes of injury thereto.

I am aware t-hat suction-pipes attached to the sides and Sterns of vessels for dredging purposes, and having at the lower end of said pipes somewhat adjustable drags, and in said pipes a iiexible section made of rubber, and the said pipes with their drags, subject to be lowered and hoisted by means of sheave-blocks and ropes, have been employed. Therefore I do not of course claim, broadly, the use of such suction-pipes and drags or theira-ttachment to ships or the hoisting` and lowering of the same by ordinary mea-us, or the use of a iiexible rubber section in such pipes; but

That I do claim as new and useful, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

l. In a pump dredging-machine mounted on shipboard, the combination of the flexible section B B of the suction-pipe B B, the supporting-chains l-I H, the iron portions of the suction-pipe B B, the clamp-band J, having the perforated ears j, and suspendingchain 5, whereby the said chains H Il and rubber section are kept in line with each other and from unduly sagging in the middle, as and for the purposes described.

2. In a pump dredging-machine mounted on shipboard,the combination of the rubber section B B of the suction-pipe B B, the suspending-chain 5, suspending-chain 4t 4, traveling block and sheave c2, and hoisting blocks and ropes a a Z1', whereby the said rubber section of the suction-pipe is kept nearly in a straight line and prevented from deviating from a gentle curve irrespective of whatever angle `the said suction-pipe takes with the horizontal plane, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3. In a pump dredging-machine mounted on shipboard, the combination of the suspending-chain 2Q, traveling-block and sheave C, drag-holding chain 3, suction-pipe B B, drag C, and hoisting blocks and ropes a a h, whereby the strain of the suspending-chain 2 2 is equally applied to two distant points of the said suction-pipe and the drag is held from falling below the line of the said pipe when lifted from its work, whatever be the angle formed by the suction-pipe with the horizontal plane, as an d for the purposes set forth.

at. In a pump dredgiiig-machine mounted on shipboard, the combination of the suctionpipe B B, drag C, and the universal ball-andsocket joint C', having the circular socket m and stem n, whereby the said drag can adjust its mouth to its work in all directions, vertical, lateral, and rotary, substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

jIn a pump dredging-suction-pipe, drag (l, the set-nut and bolt k, and spring Z, in combination with the water-door K, whereby the said water-door can be set and held at any open position that may be required to admit as much or little water as may be, according to the nature of the materials dredged, necessary to cause a free iiow of the same through the said drag and its suction-pipe, as and for the purposes set forth.

(5. In a pump dredging-machine` mounted on shipboard, the suction-pipe box, Fig. l2, having two separate bearings, P P, in a single base, O t), and double separate caps O O', said separate bearings and caps working in corresponding sunken seats around the suction-pipe B B, formed by raised shoulders p pp p on the said pipe, whereby a long stiff rotating bearing is provided for holding the said pipe without liability'of being cramped by rolling of the ship, and whereby the caps can be repaired without detention by removing but one of the same'at a time, and whereby the said pipe has a double lateral support in the longitudinal direction bymeans of a double set of shoulders on the said pipe striding the double bearings and double caps, in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

7. In a pump dredging-machine mounted on shipboard, the combination of the supporting elbow-lug I, having its center on t-he central horizontal line of the suction-pipe B, the goose-neck arm I caps O O', and connecting holding-chain Q, whereby the weight and strain of the said suction-pipe are greatly supported and corresponding vertical relief aforded to the bearingof the said pipe in the side IOC IIO

of the ship, in the manner and for the purpose described.

8. In a pump dredging-machine mounted on shipboard, the combination of the supporting elbow-lug I, havingits center ou the central horizontal line of the suction-pipe B, the goose-neck arm I', caps O O', connecting holding-chain t', vertical arm -supporting chain i2, and horizontal elbow-supporting chain 4, whereby the elbow of the said suet-ion-pipe is supported in a lateral forward and vertical upward direction, substantially in the manner and for the purposes described. y

JOSEPH EDWARDS. 'itnesses:

FRANK R. JOHNSON, HUNTINGTON PAGE. 

